We Shall Prevail: The Next Cycle
by Ravereli
Summary: Before the Protheans fell, they made sure that the next cycle would be ready for the Reapers. They left caches near the different species' homeworlds they encountered. These caches contained their history, technology, culture, and a warning. A warning that they hoped would be found by the different species of the next cycle. So that they could finish what the Protheans have started


**We Shall Prevail: The Next Cycle**

Before the Protheans fell, they made sure that the next cycle would be ready for the Reapers. They left caches near the different species' homeworlds they encountered. These caches contained their history, technology, culture, and a warning. A warning that they hoped would be found by the different species of the next cycle. So that they could finish what the Protheans have started.

* * *

**47,868 Years ago || Interstellar Space || Prothean Dreadnought "****_The Last Light"_**** || En-route to the Sol System**

* * *

**_The Last Light_**** || CIC || ****_Admiral Javik Eshak_**

Admiral Javik Eshak was now sitting on the command chair of the "Last Light" one of the few dreadnoughts that remained within the Prothean Navy. Currently, he was in command of the 8th Expedition Fleet and assigned to be the personal bodyguard of his close friend Councillor Denora.

His fleet's task was to guard the Relay leading to the Sol System and observe the species that evolved on Erde 'Tyrene, a species that they named the Humans. The Empire believed that this species must be given the utmost care, along with the Asari, Salarians, and the Turians. They believed that these species would be the dominant races of the next cycle and they wanted to ensure that they will succeed in finally finishing what every cycle has started.

_Memory Sequence - 600 Years Ago || "Pahlavan" || CIC || Rear Admiral Javik Eshak _

_'I was looking through the large viewport of the bridge which showed the vast expanse of the void, the place which we conquered and made as our home. We expanded across the galaxy, conquering or assimilating the different species we encountered into the fold of the "Citadel Union". It was a time of peace, prosperity, it was considered the golden age of our cycle_

_My dreadnought was currently the lead ship of the "201__st__ Patrol Fleet", my fleet was comprised of 5 Frigate Wolfpacks, and each Wolfpack has 5 Frigates. After that were 15 Cruisers and my Dreadnought named "Pahlavan"._

_Our current heading was "The Citadel" to replace the "182__nd__ Patrol Fleet" currently stationed there. We were on a rotational basis at that time, one fleet replaced the other and vice versa._

_Then I saw the Mass Relay, the pride of the Inussanon civilization. They created these magnificent artefacts and enabled the different species of this galaxy to travel throughout the void at FTL speeds within reasonable timeframes. After sending the mass of our vessel, we were suddenly launched to FTL speeds and immediately arrived at our destination. _

_After taking our positions along with the 14 other Prothean Fleets, 15 Densorin Fleets, 10 Ditakur Fleets, 10 Enduromi Fleets, 5 Synril Fleets, and 8 Vandomar Fleets, I noticed that the Ditakur and Enduromi Fleets were directly facing the Synril and Vandomar Fleets respectively. So I ordered the fleets of our species and the Densorin's to act as a buffer between the 4 species to prevent worsening the war between them. _

_The war between those 4 species had been going on for 27 years already and there were no signs of any peace accord or ceasefire to be issued. Even until now it was currently unknown what the motives of the Ditakur and the Enduromi were when they attacked the Synril and the Vandomar. _

_Our government constantly preached that they should not bicker with each other and instead prepare for the Reapers' inevitable return. But our constant warnings were only met with deaf ears from both sides, the only species that listened to us were the Densorin, which were our closest allies. _

_But while I was reflecting upon the events of our cycle, out of the corner of my lower eye, I saw a cobalt beam of energy surging through the Relays. I tried to issue a warning, but I was already too late._

_"All Fleets prepare for-!" My warning was cut short when the beam struck the Citadel and made the Citadel glow an aura of blue energy and after that, a massive explosion followed by an EMP wave hit all of our fleets. Our ship shuddered violently as the wave hit us, most of us staggered and fell to the floor. I hit my head on the command console and after that everything went black._

_I soon heard voices screaming, calling for help through the intercom, and then I found myself being shaken by my XO and friend Resan Dravek._

_"Admiral?!" His XO, Captain Resan Dravek was shaking me furiously, obviously trying to wake me up._

_As soon as I regained my bearings, I asked "Resan, what happened?"_

_"I don't know Javik, when the beam hit the Citadel, I instantly detected large energy fluctuations within its systems before my station shut downed." He answered, with a level of fear and uncertainty within his voice._

_When he helped me up, I saw the extent of the devastation caused by the event through the large viewport of the bridge. Some of the ships of the Citadel Defense Fleet were burning, others were releasing escape pods and a few were exploding. When I looked down to the direction of the Citadel, my heart sunk, the galactic heart of my civilization was in ruins. The surface was dotted with explosions, the sky-cars were falling down and the others were floating out into the void. Some buildings were already collapsing on itself. I can also see some people who were struggling to breathe within their offices; though most were calling their loved ones to say their final goodbyes. _

_Then when I looked at the holographic representation of my dreadnought, I saw that about 10% of the ship was coloured in red, while 20% was coloured in yellow. Thankfully, the Drive and Reactor Cores and the Ship's Main Battery were coloured green and the only systems that were affected severely were the non-essential ones._

_When I saw the crew looking at me with uncertain looks, I finally started issuing orders._

_"Start hailing the ships that remain in the Defense Fleet and start sending dropships to pick up survivors from the escape pods. I want a report regarding the status of the fleet by the hour. Also, I want a full systems check; I don't want this Dreadnought to be a sitting duck if we have a battle on our hands! Lastly, send a message through the network, the galaxy must know what happened here. Tell them we need reinforcements!"_

_A chorus of "Yes sir!" were the reply of the crew and they sprang into action._

_It took the techs an hour to check and reboot systems. According to their reports, if the EMP that hit us was stronger, all of the ship's systems would have failed and we would've died. Thankfully, that didn't happen._

_Reinforcements arrived 20 minutes after the "attack" occurred, and according to the reports from the fleet, we lost 58 Frigates, 30 Cruisers and a Dreadnought, while 40 Frigates, 20 Cruisers and 2 Dreadnoughts sustained critical damage and needed immediate repairs. _

_"Resan, tell the ships that sustained critical damage to vacate the Citadel in order for them to have repairs. When they return, they should be back at full operational capacity." I ordered_

_"Yes sir!"_

_After a few minutes, the heavily damaged ships started to limp away to the Widow Relay. When 50% of the ships already made it through; Resan detected something on his sensors._

_"Sir! I'm detecting an energy build-up within the Citadel. I can't find the source!"_

_As soon as he finished that statement, the Presidium started to rotate like a gyroscope. Then the Citadel Tower started glowing like a Mass Effect core of a Relay. _

_"Resan, what's happening?" I tried to keep my voice levelled and composed, yet someone with a very keen sense of hearing would have detected the slight tone of fear in his voice._

_"Sir, we've detected the source of the energy build-up, its coming from the Presidium. The energy being produced is similar to a Mass Relay when its powering up." Resan replied, his voice was already panicked._

_"Are you saying that the Citadel itself is a Mass Relay?" I asked him to confirm my assumptions._

_"Yes sir, it appears that- Sir! It's being used from the other side!" Resan then began furiously filtering the information that's being sent to his mind, trying to find the contacts, and how much time will they have to prepare._

_Then after a few seconds he finally declared, "Sir! The contacts will arrive in 5 minutes! The mass they sent to the relay was massive! _

_Then I replied in kind by issuing orders to the fleet. "Resan sound general quarters! Everybody, back to your stations and prepare for inevitable first contact! Charge-up the MHDs and the Pulse lasers and raise our shields!"_

_After a tense 2 minutes, the unknowns finally exited the Relay. Their ships reminded me of the representation the Inussanon used to depict the Reapers. Unless… _

_"So who do you think they are?" Resan asked me, interrupting my thoughts _

_Then all of a sudden, they started firing with their MHDs at the fleet. Their first salvo destroyed 25 Frigates, 10 Cruisers and a Dreadnought. Initially the Citadel Defense Fleet was too shell-shocked to respond, but the ships that were relatively unscathed during the event recovered immediately and responded with their own salvo. Their salvo destroyed 10 Reapers and 25 Destroyers._

_"They're the Reapers!" I shouted and began rallying the fleet to form a defensive line.' _

_But slowly, the Memory Sequence started to fade, and I was now pulled back to reality._

* * *

**47,868 Years ago || Sol System || Prothean Dreadnought "****_The Last Light"_**** || En-route to Earth**

* * *

**_The Last Light_**** || CIC || Admiral Javik Eshak**

I felt a slight shudder while experiencing the _Memory Sequence_; I knew that this meant that we have finally arrived in the Sol System. So I ended the _Memory _and deactivated the _Echo Shard_, and soon enough, my military instincts kicked in and I began issuing orders.

"Resan, what's the status of the fleet?"

"We lost a single Frigate Wolfpack, and 2 Cruisers at the skirmish we had with the Reapers back at the homeworld of the Asari and we have have 2 Cruisers that sustained negligible damage, but other than that, the fleet's still holding." He answered back while filtering the information that's flowing through the network.

"An unfortunate loss, we will mourn them later and give them a proper burial, when we land on Erde' Tyrene." Silence reigned over the CIC as the crew uttered their prayers to pay respect to the dead and wish them a peaceful rest at Elysium.

"Alright helm, plot us a course to the Human homeworld and Resan, call Councillor Denora for me, we need to discuss contingency plans we have in place for the continuity of civilization or the caches that we will leave here with HIGHCOM." As soon as I finished my sentence, the crew began doing their jobs with military efficiency only seen in the Prothean Military.

**_The Last Light || Councillor's Lounge || Kaiserin Denora L'avik_**

_The Last Light || Councillor's Lounge || Kaiserin Denora L'avik_

_Updating the Echo Shard _

_'We never knew what was coming until it was too late. We didn't even realize that the answer to our questions were directly in front of us, hiding in plain sight. Why were we so blind?!'_

I faintly heard the door to my office opening and the sound of footsteps towards my direction. But she didn't really notice this because she was reminiscing the events that lead to the fall of their cycle.

_'They hit so fast and so hard, we didn't even think it was possible. Even I myself am not sure what truly happened when the Reapers first entered the galaxy and initiated the cycle. But the surviving members of the Synril Union and the Vandomar Federation say that the Reapers started the cycle by indoctrinating the leaders of the Ditakur and Enduromi so that their empires would declare war against the Synril and the Vandomar. This resulted in the weakening of our overall galactic military strength.'_

"Kaiserin Denora? You're needed in the Conference Room immediately." Someone called me, this time I can vaguely recognize the voice and to whom it owned.

_ 'We were already prepared for the Reaper onslaught, we already had sufficient technology to challenge the Reapers directly or at least give them a hard time. But what happened was the exact opposite of what our military analysts predicted. We already lost 20 systems the first year alone, and our navy was being battered by the constant Reaper advance. Each and every colony within the frontlines were turned into warzones.'_

"Kaiserin Denora?" Someone called me again, but I ignored it.

'_Then, about 400 years ago, we discovered an Inussanon device within the archives that could effectively destroy the Reapers, we named it "The Mjolnir". "The Citadel Union" scrambled to build it so that the Reapers may finally be defeated, and after a year of construction, it was finished. But the problem was how to amplify its effect to the rest of the galaxy. Our top remaining scientists debated and researched on what could fill this niche in the Mjolnir's functions. Then almost a year later, we found out that the Citadel in fact was the device that would amplify its energy to spread across the galaxy.'_

"Kaiserin?" I ignored it again.

_'Then 397 years ago, the top military leaders of the Union held a military summit on how to "escort" this device to the heart of Reaper territory, which was border line insane! After a few tense debates in which nearly led to __**ANOTHER**__ war, it was decided that each species must contribute 10% of their remaining navies to the "Assault Fleet" and another 10% to the "Detour Fleet". Our empire was the only one that agreed to contribute to the numbers of the "Escort Fleet", therefore our fleet was diminished by 25% while the others at 20%.'_

"Denora?" This time I noted how that person used my name than my title, so I assumed that the person calling me was a friend.

'_After a few years of more planning, which were riddled with setback after setback, the plan was initiated. The plan was really simple in which the "Detour Fleet" would attack the Reapers in the front and would take the shorter route to the Citadel so that they could "distract" them into believing that this fleet would be the brunt of our forces therefore attracting more Reapers to them. While the "Detour Fleet" attacked the Reaper Fleet stationed at the Citadel, the "Assault Fleet" would sneak up to their "blindside" and take the longer route to the Citadel and clear the way for the "Escort Fleet". Then the 2 fleets would combine and rendezvous at the Citadel and secure the area so that the "Escort Fleet" will bring the "Mjolnir" in and connect it to the station. But there were two flaws to this plan…'_

"Denora, can you hear me?"

'_First was that they needed the "Detour Fleet" to distract the Reapers long enough until the "Assault Fleet" arrives. And when the fleets meet, they need to hold out until the "Escort Fleet" would be able to rendezvous with them and lock the "Mjolnir" into the Citadel. This problem was quickly solved by assigning the "Citadel Union's" greatest military minds to the 3 different fleets. The second one was something that they weren't even aware off, so they never took into account that there were indoctrinated officials within the inner circle of their military.'_

"Denora?"

_'So when the three fleets were launched, the indoctrinated military officials that took part in the Assault secretly contacted the Reapers about the Union's plan. The Reapers then told them that they should wait for the right time to strike and to let the Union forces feel a false sense of security. So the Reapers let the operation pass for the first few hours. While on the Citadel Union's side, Operation: Final Light was a success, the reports coming in were spectacular, and they said that we caught the Reapers with their pants down!'_

Now, I realized that the person calling me was actually Resan Dravek, one of my closest friends. But I thought '_He would understand me for ignoring him right now, right?' _

_'But the problem was it was all just a hoax. As the 2 fleets met at the rendezvous point, they began to wait for the "Escort Fleet" to arrive. The Admirals were surprised that no Reaper activity were detected within the Widow System, so they tried to take advantage of this; they began forming defensive positions and landing marines on the Citadel. When the 'Escort Fleet' arrived, they reported that they lost about 40% of their fleet, but they said almost all of the remaining ships only sustained negligible damage.'_

Then I heard my console activating and the rustling of the papers that were on my desk which meant Resan began looking at my files. I didn't really bother because he was authorised to look over the classified information.

_'As soon as the 3 fleets entrenched themselves in the Citadel, the Reapers started their counterattack by ordering the indoctrinated military officials' ships to fire on their own brethren. That's when the battle started, as soon the first shots were fired, the Admirals knew that they had been tricked by the Reapers. So they started evacuating their troops on the Citadel and sent the "Escort Fleet" away from the Serpent Nebula as fast as possible. The moment the "Escort Fleet" left, the Reapers arrived via the Citadel Relay and crushed the 2 remaining fleets. It was the greatest military defeat our cycle experienced in our history. After that, chaos, the "Citadel Union" collapsed and the species of the galaxy were no longer united in stopping the Reapers. Each had their own agenda. A few years later, we received reports that the Synril Union had finally collapsed and a few years after that, their wasn't even a trace of transmissions coming from their sector. Soon, they were followed by the Vandomar Federation and the Enduromi Empire. Though the Enduromi still had a few resistance cells on their colonies and their homeworld, but our analysts predicted that all Enduromi related resistance activities would cease in 2 years at most. So all in all, the galaxy's remaining spacefaring civilizations are the Prothean Empire, Densorin Republic, Oravores Oligarchy, and the Ditakur Empire. But all of these civilizations are on the verge of collapse; anarchy is already widespread across the Outer Colonies and the galactic economy is already non-existent. We already have contingency plans in place for the continuity of civilization or if all else fails, at least help the next cycle by leaving caches to give them a jumpstart in their development.'_

As I stopped uploading my memories into the Echo Shard, I finally deactivated it and as soon as I opened my eyes I saw Resan looking at my files.

"I assume you're here to tell me about something?" Catching his attention

"I was sent here by Javik to call you, he said we have a meeting with HIGHCOM regarding contingency plans and about the caches we will leave in this system." He answered immediately.

"Have we already arrived?" I asked, then I thought '_How long was I linked up to that Shard?'_

"We've arrived in-system an hour ago. So what were you doing with your Echo Shard?" He asked

"I was just updating it, and it's none of your business." I said while being mock angry

"Ouch, being your long-time friend doesn't count?" He said, while clutching his chest

"No"

"Very funny, now come on! Javik must have been waiting for us."

"Waiting? I thought it was only about to start?"

"Oh! Yeah I forgot to tell you, it already started an hour ago." He said while grinning widely

"What?!"

"Yup!" His grin never waning which earned him a punch on the arm.

"Well then, we shouldn't keep him waiting!" As soon as I finished my statement, I ran straight to the hallway and headed to the Conference Room with Resan close behind me grinning.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hey Guys! Ravereli here!**

**I hoped you guys liked the first chapter!**

**Also the past chapter that I posted was just a sneak peek! I hoped you enjoyed this one!**

**The action/battles will be introduced a few chapters after this one so just wait.**

**And if any of you would be wondering, the "Javik" in this chapter is NOT the Javik we all know and love (Apparently, this particular name was famous among the Protheans!) I will introduce him later on.**

**One last thing, this fic would be a short one, around 10-20 Chapters only. This fic would only serve as an introduction to the series I'm already creating.**

**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW AND SUGGESTIONS ABOUT THE STORY!**


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